I’ve noticed that every product I’ve bought in the past year with a zip-lock seal is destroyed with common use. I actually think the zip-lock itself has gotten stronger. The bag rips before the seal opens on half the bags now and whenever I try to opens bags I had no issues with before, I find myself stretching/warping the plastic before the seal eventually opens.
It’s pretty frustrating and I am seeing it across many products. Cheese bags, storage bags, snacks etc…
I don’t think the zip-lock got stronger, I think the bags got thinner and weaker. But either way, they do tear more than they used to.
Which… might be ok, if the object is to reduce plastic consumption and pollution.
Otherwise known as shrinkflation. Selling a product for the same (or higher) price, but adding less of the product. By cutting small, barely noticeable portions out a little at a time, the company saves money in materials, but continues charging the same price. Basically, min-maxing profits.
There is actually a trick to open them. Just slide the two halfs of the zip along each other and (between your fingers) the ends will pop open. This is a trick I use in my retail job almost every day.
Hope I explained that well enough.
Does it work on commercial products with ziplock ? That always tears for me
It works pretty well. You’re applying opposite sideways forces to the zipper itself rather than pulling on the plastic film of the bag.
Edit: if you want to be sure you don’t blow out the corner of the bag, pinch it with your other hand before sliding your thumb towards it
The greatest lie ever told is “pull here to open”.
Nah cut here to open is worse. It’s always an inch above where you actually need to cut.
“Push here to open” on Mac and cheese boxes. I swear they don’t even bother perforating the boxes anymore.
I sometimes get fresh tortillas from the grocery store bakery, and the bags they use are the absolute worst. The zip-locks are fine, but the plastic the bag is made of is so thin that it can’t withstand the pressure needed to open the zipper, inevitably tearing the bag open and defeating the entire purpose of the zip-lock.
I’ve noticed this on zip top food packaging; it’s as if the zipper is a separate piece of plastic that is very weakly glued to the bag itself and it doesn’t extend to the outer lips where you pull it open, so you end up separating one side of the bag from the zipper.
